Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1887-08-12

.cl!t an old army acquaintance, men,
of q fly-by-night minstrel party that
mad been doing the small river towns.
To him explained my plight and l was
overioyed when he agreed to lend me
money enough to pay my fare to Mem
phis on the doubtful security of my word.
Half an hour later we started and as we
rounded Nillikens Bend we discovered
sheet of flame ahead that to river men
was too well known sign that vessel
was burning. There was a great clang-
ing of bells, increased vehemence i'll the
putting of the exhaust pipes, and a deter
mined vigor in the song of the colored
firemen as they piled fuel into the fur
naces and every effort was bent toward
reaching the burning wreck with the
least possible delay. We finally drew
close enough to the blazing boat to dis
cover that no living thing could exist for
single moment on board of her and de-
voted our efforts to keeping at safe dis
lance from her while cndeavoring to dis
cover and pick up survivors. OF the
passengers and crew of the flame de-
voured steamer we picked up thirty,
many of them badly burned, and ascer-
tanned that the roaring column of flame
before us was all that remained of the
William r. Carter, the boat l did not
take, because l had lost my money at
faro bank. and whose boiler had exploded
within less than two hours after leaving
Vicksburg.
"A large number of the passengers
and crew of the Carter were burned or
drowned, including Capt. Hurd, and
singularly enough on the same night, in
the Ohio river, near Paducah, KY. the
steamer Missouri, of the same line, ex-
ploded her boiler and burned to the
waters edge, and among the many per-
sons lost was the captain, brother of
the commander of the Carter. The
boilers in use in the steamers of that line
We're of the tubular pattern, which
were afterwards condemned by the
| government inspectors and their removal
from the remaining boats of the fleet
enforced.
IF you are not now convinced that
the luckiest thing that ever happened tc
me was brought about by what people
commonly regard as absence of luck III
treat; that is to say, l would if had the
price of the drinks
l had listened to the mans story with
out uttering a word except to remind the
waiter that our glasses needed replenish
ing, and as he recounted the circum
stance of the loss of the Carter l as i'm
plicitly believed in the truth of his tale as
| did in my own existence, for l was 6
resident of Vicksburg at the time. AS
arose to go slipped a dollar into hi
hand from my very slender purse anc
felt sorry that I wasn't able to give {
stronger lift to a man who had played
life's game in such horrible luck. bad'
him good night and walked into thu
street, stopping at the corner opposite thu
gas light to wait for a car. Will,
standing there my late companion anC
entertainer, for whom l still felt mos
compassionately, sauntered up to tht
corner upon which the light was situated
and. apparently not Observing me, caleC
out: Hey, Jim, another sucker swal
lowed the old bait and gave up case
He died hard. and bloody nearly drowned
me with beer Let's go and get some
thing proper. While my unlucky frien'
was delivering himself Of this speed
Jim" emerged from the doorwa,
around the corner, where he had beel
keeping vigil while his partner ''worke
me for a case and the twain disap
peared down the street, leaving me t
wish that the man who wasn't born
girl had been sitting on the Carter
boiler when the bolts let go.-New Yor
Times.